Becky Comer Mann, 54, of Barracks Hill Drive, North Wilkesboro, died Monday, March 18, 2002, at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
     Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 21, 2002, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, with Father J. Kenneth Asel, Father Frank McKenzie, and the Rev. Kay Rackley officiating. A private committal service followed in the church cemetery.
     Ms. Mann was born May 22, 1947, in Wilkes County to Charles Mitchell and Jean Rupard Comer. At the time of her death, she was an English instructor emeritus at Wilkes Community College (WCC) in the Developmental Studies Department. She attended Brevard College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Mars Hill College in 1969. She earned a master's degree from Appalachian State University in 1987.
     Becky began teaching English at South Iredell High School in 1969, and taught in the Head Start program at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Louisville, Ky., from 1969 to 1972. She taught English in Wilkes County schools from 1986 to 1987 and at Patterson School in Lenoir from 1988 to 1989. She began teaching as a part-time instructor in Wilkes Community College in 1973. She became a full-time English instructor at the community college in 1989 and was instrumental in establishing the college's computer writing center. In addition to her achievements on campus, she served Wilkes Community College as an executive board member of the N.C. Conference of English Instructors for many years and as a task force member in the NCCCS Common Course Library development process.
     In addition to her work in education, Ms. Mann was also a successful author. Her book, Walking Raleigh/Durham, was published in 2001 by the Glove Pequot Press. She worked on this project for about two years, drawing all of the maps herself, as well as taking most of the photographs. Mann co-authored [with husband Pete] Essay Writing: Methods and Models, a freshman composition text.
     Ms. Mann was active in her professional field and as a community leader. She served as [president] of the North Carolina Community Colleges Conference of English Instructors; a member of the National Council of Teachers of English; a member of the Southeastern Conference on English in the Two-Year College; a member of the North Carolina Writers Network; and a members of the American Association of University Women. She served as a member of the Wilkes Public Library Book Club; a member of the Independent Reading Association; a member of the board for Friends of the Library; and a member of the Wilkes County Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee. She was a co-founder and served on the Council Board of Directors for the Yadkin River Greenway and as public relations committee chair. She was a member of the St. Paul's Episcopal Church where she served as clerk of the vestry and as a member of the choir. Ms. Mann served as the first volunteer coordinator for Hospice of Wilkes and later became executive director for Hospice [of Wilkes County]. She was also the "first lady" of the Town of Wilkesboro during her husband's term as mayor from 1995 to 1999.
     She is survived by her husband, Pete M. Mann of the home; two daughters and sons-in-law, Arthur and Jennifer Mann Lankford of Lawrenceville, Ga., and Kelly and Alison Mann Pipes of Wilkesboro; her mother, Jean Rupard Comer of Union Grove; a sister, Alcy Prevette of North Wilkesboro; two brothers, Terry Comer and Tim Comer, both of Union Grove; and a grandson, Austin Lankford of Lawrenceville, Ga. Memorial may be made to Yadkin River Greenway, P.O. Box 191, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

     [Editor's note: In a recent conversation with CEI News, Becky's husband Pete mentioned that "on her next to last last trip to Wake Forest University Medical Center, she insisted that we leave early so she could go by a portion of the Greenway under construction to watch a crane set a pedestrian bridge in place across the Reddies River." Pete said that the Yadkin River Greenway Council will announce this week that it has joined with the Wilkes YMCA and the Winston-Salem YMCA to build "Becky's Park," a park and trail head in memory of Rebecca Comer Mann on YMCA property behind the new YMCA on NC 268 West, connecting the park to the Yadkin River and the Yadkin River Greenway.

     For all of us who have known Becky and Pete, their life together was larger than the lives of characters in the books they loved and shared with their students. They met in the first grade, started dating after their first year together in college, and were married 34 years, with Becky attending the wedding of her daughter Allison on March 9 at the family home. In a letter this week Pete said, "We raised kids together, wrote books together, traveled extensively, and led shared professional lives. Our relationship was the deepest, most fulfilling, satisfying, complex, and profound relationship I can conceive of."]